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Plan for excellence

Our EHS Plan for Excellence sets out a strategy to improve our EHS performance over the ten-year period to 2010. Each year we focus on a different theme. The priority for 2004 was to develop policies in response to external challenges such as climate change.

In September 2003, we held a meeting of an external stakeholder panel (which represented government, customers, suppliers, environmental groups, and others) to help us identify external challenges. Three key issues for GSK were identified - pharmaceuticals in the environment, the use of chemicals, and climate change. In response, we developed the following specific objectives for 2004:

• Work with external stakeholders to review emerging issues.
• Draft a position statement on pharmaceuticals in the environment.
• Draft a position statement on the use of chemicals.
• Draft a position statement on the future use of energy.
• Implement a regulatory tracking system for EHS.

In 2004, we made good progress against these objectives. We worked with the Environment council to get feedback from external stakeholders on the issues relating to pharmaceuticals in the environment, the use of chemicals and the future use of energy. Following this consultation, we prepared discussion documents in each of these three areas and began to get feedback on them from employees. We will complete position statements in these areas in 2005.

We also established a regulatory tracking process to alert us to emerging EHS issues in the USA and the EU. A network of EHS specialists tracks regulations which are made available on a database to employees with EHS responsibilities.

In 2005 we will focus on ensuring that core programmes are in place throughout the business. Our specific objectives are to:

• complete the implementation of our EHS management system, which is aligned with ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001, at all operations;
• achieve acceptable audit scores at all operations. Our aim is to achieve an average score of at least 75% in each business unit, with no site achieving less than 50%;
• achieve the published 2005 EHS global targets;
• analyse how close we have come to meeting the strategic objectives originally published in 2001 in the EHS Plan for Excellence;
• formalise our external stakeholder engagement process;
• review and revise as necessary the EHS Plan for Excellence for 2006 - 2010.

We are also working to develop a road map for sustainable development, which outlines the key steps that we will need to take to become an environmentally sustainable business. In 2004, we commissioned a study by Forum for the future into the role of a pharmaceutical company in a sustainable society. We then used the findings to develop a draft road map, which will be finalised in 2005.

See more on our EHS plan for excellence.

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